Cheapest Way To Transfer Large Sum Of Money From Uk To Thailand

[Ground Engineer]

I need to transfer £16,000 from my HSBC bank in the UK to my Siam Commercial Bank in Thailand. Before I do so, I was wondering which is the best combination of Banks to go through with respect to bank charges and exchange rates.

It might be for example better to use Nation Wide in the UK and Bangkok Bank in Thailand.

[Filer]

I need to transfer £16,000 from my HSBC bank in the UK to my Siam Commercial Bank in Thailand. Before I do so, I was wondering which is the best combination of Banks to go through with respect to bank charges and exchange rates.

It might be for example better to use Nation Wide in the UK and Bangkok Bank in Thailand.

I think that you should forget the regular (UK and foreign) commercial banks in the UK as the starting point for this process. Most small businesses and individuals that I have come across who have need to make regular payments overseas have long transferred their business to one of the many specialist foreign exchange firms who are now active in this market. The commercial banks give you poor exchange rates and impose high charges (= rip-off). These specialist firms are much more economic, buying their foreign exchange in the wholesale markets and selling it to you and transmitting it at low cost, due to their low overheads.

This specialist market has been much boosted by UK individuals moving overseas, buying foreign properties etc. All these specialist firms are legal and above-board (they have to be licensed by the Bank of England to deal in foreign currency).

I can't recommend any names to you, but you might bhe able to get some from the big international property companies, who advise their clients to go this way. Alternatively contact some of the firms who are listed on the BritishExpat.Com Web site (go to links, then financial, then foreign exchange), email them your specific requirements and let them quote you. (I'm not clear why you cannot transmit to SCB directly in TH (as I have done); to go via BKK Bank presumably adds another link in the chain.)

It might be interesting for the benefit of other forum viewers if you would post the results of your experience here. Good luck!

[Rinrada]

Bit of info from Nationwide....

I have used swift in the past (not with N/W) and it all seems to work OK...

On one occasion from my bank in Vietnam which went through Malaysia ..then New York...and ended up with Enfield (bl**dy) Council to pay my house rates....

anyway...

Question

How do I transfer money from Nationwide to another account using a SWIFT payment (overseas transfer)?

Answer :Transfer to Overseas Account using SWIFT

Complete, print, and send a form to request a 'telegraphic transfer' between a UK account and an overseas account. Telegraphic transfers are electronic payments made from an account at one organisation to an account at another.

There is a charge of £20 for this service.

For payments made between the UK and other countries we use the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT)

Nationwide cannot guarantee how long SWIFT payments will take to reach a beneficiary's account.

There is no minimum or maximum payment amount

Customers can also arrange to receive funds using SWIFT. T

There is no Nationwide charge for this.

Nationwide's SWIFT address is: MIDLGB22

Location of SWIFT Form

Select the FlexAccount from which you wish to transfer funds (internet)

Choose 'Other Services' from the left hand side of the screen

Click on 'Transfer Overseas using SWIFT' in the 'Financial Transactions' section

Read the alert box and click OK

Complete the form on screen, including your FlexAccount number. This should be 8 digits.

Sometimes a FlexAccount number has 9 digits with a 6 as the first digit. If this is the case, ignore the 6 and use the following 8 digits, then print out the form

Sign the form and post it to the Nationwide address that you will see printed out for you

The transaction will be carried out on the day that it is received by Nationwide.

Please note: there is a transfer fee of £20 for SWIFT transfers that will be taken from your account.

Please note: customers can also take this form into a branch, however, you will need to ensure that you take primary identification with you to be able to carry out the transaction.

Primary ID is either your valid passport, photo card driving licence (with the paper counterpart) or a bank statement (less than 3 months old) showing the same address as on the transfer request form.

[rak sa_ngop]

In quickly reading through the above replies I didn't see mentioned what to me is the most important thing and that is to specify the transfer to be in GBP and then convert GBP to baht in Thailand. The Thai banks will give you, in my experience, a MUCH beter exchange rate this end. I think UK banks know this so they try and 'con' you into converting the money at their end by offering you a 'buy' at a certain rate and as a result, they tell you, securing a 'better' rate in case of currency fluctuations. When I checked this out a few years ago the only beneficiary to this deal would have been the UK bank which would have made a huge amount on my account.

[Rinrada]

Spoke to them and they say that dosh is EXCHANGED over there....so should get 70 bt /£...or roundabouts....

Incid interests Rates gone UP today to 5.25%.......good for the savers nots so if you got a Mortgage

[Ground Engineer]

I need to transfer £16,000 from my HSBC bank in the UK to my Siam Commercial Bank in Thailand. Before I do so, I was wondering which is the best combination of Banks to go through with respect to bank charges and exchange rates.

It might be for example better to use Nation Wide in the UK and Bangkok Bank in Thailand.

I think that you should forget the regular (UK and foreign) commercial banks in the UK as the starting point for this process. Most small businesses and individuals that I have come across who have need to make regular payments overseas have long transferred their business to one of the many specialist foreign exchange firms who are now active in this market. The commercial banks give you poor exchange rates and impose high charges (= rip-off). These specialist firms are much more economic, buying their foreign exchange in the wholesale markets and selling it to you and transmitting it at low cost, due to their low overheads.

This specialist market has been much boosted by UK individuals moving overseas, buying foreign properties etc. All these specialist firms are legal and above-board (they have to be licensed by the Bank of England to deal in foreign currency).

I can't recommend any names to you, but you might bhe able to get some from the big international property companies, who advise their clients to go this way. Alternatively contact some of the firms who are listed on the BritishExpat.Com Web site (go to links, then financial, then foreign exchange), email them your specific requirements and let them quote you. (I'm not clear why you cannot transmit to SCB directly in TH (as I have done); to go via BKK Bank presumably adds another link in the chain.)

It might be interesting for the benefit of other forum viewers if you would post the results of your experience here. Good luck!

THanks Filer. I used a company smart currency exchange who gave me 69.5 Bhat to the pound. Very happy with that. Cheers.

[Rinrada]

Recon it will get better on Monday......following interest rate change....lets see.....

Saturday, January 13, 2007

1 British Pound = 70.07720 Thai Baht

1 Thai Baht (THB) = 0.01427 British Pound (GBP)

Interbank rate +/- %